


my earthbound heart is heavy

by woopsforgotadam



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Black Paladin Allura, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, Mutual Pining, Other, Platonic Relationships, Post Season 2, Slow Burn, Space Opera, Time Travel, Voltron backstory, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-30
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-10-25 22:08:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10773444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/woopsforgotadam/pseuds/woopsforgotadam
Summary: Nothing about being in Space and fighting to end an oppressive, long reign of rule was very easy. Lance never thought it would be, but that didn't mean the other things that came with it: getting to know the others, listening, being there for each other had to be just as hard. It was, but with the disappearance of Shiro, there wasn't much time to just be. Not anymore.The hardest part was finding a place in all the madness. A destination.





	1. prelude

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for clicking this fic! As of now, there is no need for any archive warnings, but as the story develops, the tags may change as well. Though it will never change rating. The idea of this is some sort of end of Season 2 au with being more Lance centric in premise, though every character has their own agenda. 
> 
> Thank you [Gianna](http://usabuns.tumblr.com) for being a beta for this chapter :)

Battles, Lance thought, were never easy. It didn’t matter how many times they did this, it was never as simple has he hoped. They became maybe _less_ _difficult_ than the last, but recently, all he felt was fatigue. Especially after the loss of Shiro. But as a leg of Voltron, he had to support, and support meant supporting Allura, the recently minted Black Paladin. Support meant sending it towards her, towards them all in waves the first time they were successfully able to form Voltron.

Which was, well, about a minute ago.

They were getting shot at—a lot, and the sword and shield were taking damage, but still, Lance reminded himself to be optimistic.

“Get ready for the next one, Paladins.” Allura’s voice was calm and through the link everyone could feel her burning determination.

“I was born ready.” Lance’s reply was immediate and he braced himself, and Voltron, for the next impact of the ion cannon.

Then, Blue contacted him, the lights in the cockpit flashed and a panel moved, and oh— _oh_. So this was what Hunk meant when Yellow just showed him what to do.

“Guys! Blue has an idea!”

“Well?” Hunk expectant tone is the first through the comms. He looks nervous and Lance grins.

“Time to cool it down!” Collective groans and a sigh from Allura. _Nice_.

“Lance, if we’re gonna die, can I at least not hear a dumb joke!?” Lance was too busy to see Pidge’s face, but he could imagine. The blue bayard was thrusted into the slot and then Voltron moved.

From the outside, it looked like this:

Voltron knelt, or well, got in a kneeling position while in space, on it’s Yellow leg in front of the Galra fleet. The shield around the Green arm was covering it’s midsection and head while the blazing sword disappeared from sight. The front leg, the Blue one, seemed to be lighting up and the knee cap opened and from it, a cannon emerged. The mouth of the cannon was loading up energy, just like any ion cannon would but the entire leg flashed, quickly and quickly and quickly. The Paladin was waiting for the right moment, Lion and Paladin in synch for a moment, and once the ion beam’s light appeared, the sharpshooter of Voltron let it go.

The two lights met, but the upon contact, the Ion beam froze and the explosion from it froze the entire fleet where it stood. Then the ice shattered, the ships with it, all destroyed.

The battle was over.

“Holy crow!” Hunk’s voice was the first Lance registered, the excitement coming from all his teammates. Even the intense thrill he felt from Keith was enough to make Lance lean back and smile. He pat the control of his lion lovingly.

“These lions are capable of so much.” Allura’s voice sounded far off, but there was pride. Everyone felt it. There was pride for all the lions and the paladins. “Sometimes…you forget.”

“That’s what happens when you mess with Voltron head on!” Hunk hollered, Pidge hooted their approval, even Keith said, “We really showed them.” Which, Lance thought was pretty funny because what the _quiznak_ , Keith? Who even said that? Nothing but a certain fondness crept its way towards the others even as they began to disconnect from one mega alien robot lion to five separate lions. The battle was over and towards the Castle they flew.

 

One last pat of love towards the Blue Lion and Lance found himself leaving through his beloved Lion’s mouth and then engulfed in one of the Best Hugs in the Universe courtesy of his best bro, Hunk. Lance laughed as he allowed himself to be squished; the paladin was quite happy that his helmet was hanging in his hand and not latched on his head. Otherwise, he’d be squished.

Lance was on his feet again in no time and Hunk’s hands were on his shoulders. Lance even saw the rest of the team: Pidge and Keith side by side and behind them, Allura, all walking to meet with Hunk and Lance. Hunk, however, got his attention once more by his excited speech. “That was amazing, Lance! You were like throwing bad jokes, but like, your _aura_ was full of confidence that it was gonna work! Like, _how_?! Were you and Blue waiting for a perfect moment? I gotta admit, I was scared when you didn’t fire right away, but I trusted you knew what you were doing, man. And then the Ice! How was that even a possible thing?”

“That was dramatic, but, in a good way to ensure a bigger impact.” Pidge was smiling up at the pair of them and then shrugged. “And it was pretty _cool_.”

There was a gleam on their glasses which shrouded the view from Pidge’s eyes but Lance busted out laughing, as did Hunk. Lance threw the ‘ol finger guns at them and winked. “Ice cold.”

“You guys say _I_ have the worst puns,” Hunk rolled his eyes, his gaze landed on Keith and Allura in _a can you believe these two nerds I call my friends?_ way “the hypocrites!”

“You guys are focused on the coldness, but no one is mentioning how the lion was flashing. _That_ was the most dramatic part.” Keith commented and —Lance opened his mouth to defend, but well. Keith wasn’t wrong, but Lance couldn’t just _let it go._

“It looked really cool and Blue is amazing, so once again: _Jealousy_ , thy name is Keith.”

Keith snorted.

“While I think we can all agree that Lance and Blue performed rather well, if not, _flashy_ , today…we still need to train. Especially in forming Voltron. We only just made it today and it was the first time. While I realize I’m no Shiro--” and with that named uttered, whatever light air around the paladins faded instantly. It was easy, to get lost in the battles and the laughter and the jokes, to _forget_ , just for a moment who they were missing. It has been a month since. Three weeks since Allura became the Black Paladin. “--The fact remains that the Galra empire still stands as a looming threat to the Galaxy. While we search for Shiro, they search for Zarkon. We have to be ready.”

Allura then turns to Pidge. “Did you gain any new information on your recon?”

The mission began, originally, as a sneak and sweep. Pidge, with their cloaking upgrades on Green was going to download some Galra intel from one of many ships in the Fleet. However well disguised, no one could account for someone catching Pidge mid-download. Then the fight outside began as a distraction while Pidge got as much as they could before being forced to retreat back to Green and join the fray. While the fight was going on, Pidge’s laptop was deencrypting the data, with help from touch ups made by the green and yellow paladins; and of course, Coran, was overseeing it all.

“I got less than I hoped for, but it _should_ be enough,” Pidge answered. They were frowning with what Lance knew to be their Thinking Frown. “I was expecting…less organization from the Galra empire, with their leader missing and what not.”

Lance crossed his arms. He thought that the minute the fleet began shooting, with the same deadly intent as always and organization. It was like as if nothing had happened to their commander. They had the same ruler for ten thousand years, after all. That’s a long time. There must…

“...There must be some chain of command. Someone who was shadowing Zarkon and knew him well, well enough to be able to run the entire Empire, army and all, very similar to Zarkon. It’s like nothing has changed, except maybe some inner-workings we haven’t seen yet.” Lance finished his thoughts out loud. His mouth was working as fast as always. “Like, on Earth. In Cuba, we had Fidel Castro, who gave his position to his brother. They were different, yeah, but their _flavor_ of ruling was still eerily similar.”

“Does Zarkon have a brother?” asked Keith. Lance could tell the other Paladin had some doubts, but they were probably towards Zarkon having family. Which, yeah, the Lance can agree there. Spooky thought.

“It doesn’t _have_ to be a brother,” Hunk pointed out, a hand on his chin in thought, “but what Lance says makes sense. They must have been prepared. Well, more than we were. At least.”

An uncomfortable silence kicks in, but then Allura speaks, in command as always. “My first guess would be Haggar, but I really do not see the sense in that. Haggar is a druid who relies on magic more than military. While we can all agree that Haggar has a sphere of influence in the Empire, I think it relies heavily on Zarkon’s own dependence on her magic to fight us and control the empire. It would have to be someone, just as Lance suggested, _like_ Zarkon.”

The door opens and then suddenly, Lance remembers, _oh hey_ , _we never actually left all the Lions_. He can feel Blue’s amusement, and also some pride in there that makes his chest feel light. Coran jazzes on through, smiles and all.

“Another day, another victory for Team Voltron.” He looks at them all, and he must see _something_ alright because Lance after so long in Space, can recognize when Coran goes into Caring Space Uncle mode. Allura shifts and Lance smirks, knowing she sees it as well. “Why don’t we wash away the battle, eat, and then discuss the next moves? It was a victory, but a hard earned one.”

Well who could argue with that? Not Lance.

The thing about hot showers? Well, they could never compare to baths. Not in his heart. _However_ , they did relax him and he was so…bone tired. It was a great place to reflect alone. It’s only been a month, Earth time, since the fight when Shiro disappeared, leaving behind a team. Allura, Pidge and especially Keith were all so affected by it, they all retreated to into themselves. The Blade of Mamora were all at their base, Slav with them, ready to be in contact with Voltron when possible.

Lance did his best as did Hunk and Coran. The entire team was rattled by this. Keith and Pidge were hyper-focusing all the time. Keith on training, Pidge on building and upgrading and whatever got them through whatever pain it was. Allura just…seemed to lock herself up. Lance never realized how close the Princess and the Black Paladin were until then. It took a lot of cajoling around, but they did get the other three settled into some sort of routine.

It wasn’t until the Black Lion roared to get all their attention and made Allura, not Keith, it’s new Paladin that the energy of the castle shifted again. Lance felt relief at the Black Lion’s choice. Not that he thought Keith would be a terrible leader just…that well, Allura herself said that no one could _force_ any bonds and the Black Lion was silent to anyone. Even when Keith did try.

Red seemed upset that their paladin would try to go to the Black Lion and that ensued pettiness that reminded Lance of his younger sister, Penelope.

(The Red Lion had put up a particle shield whenever Keith went near it for three days.)

Still, besides the more light hearted moments these past few days, the gap and the tension seemed to be there. Lance did his best to help around. He checked on everyone, watched everyone. He took up more duties around the castle and even checked in with Keith by training with the guy. In all honestly? Lance was just…exhausted. It started to settle even before Shiro disappeared.

Maybe ever since he left Earth.

Lance spared a look at his clock and checked on his hunger. He wasn’t that hungry, despite the battle, and he was tired. He eyed his bed before slipping his robe on and falling against it. His alarm was quickly set and it didn’t take him long to fall asleep.

The insistent blaring of his alarm woke him up an hour—or well, varga—later. Getting changed was easy now, easier than it was in the beginning. In no time at all, his teeth were brushed, he had stripped his pajamas and traded it for his jeans, shirt, jacket and shoes. He took his time walking to the console room, though.

True to tradition, Lance was the last to arrive. He could feel the slightly worried looks from Hunk and Coran, but ignored them in favor of settling himself next to Keith with his arm crossed, waiting for any updates. Coran doesn’t seem to be willing to press Lance, as he just turns to help Allura set something up on the display.

In the moment of silence, he gets nudged by Keith. Which, surprises him, really but he turns towards the Red Paladin, anyway, an eyebrow raised.

“How come you missed dinner?” asked Keith, his voice was lowered and he looked like he was trying to shrink into himself. Weird. Then again, Keith was not a normal fellow. Lance was going to explain _, uh because I was tired from battle?_ But before he could get the words out—Coran called to everyone’s attention.

The display screen showed a picture of what Lance figured to be some important Galra. The way they stood in the picture made him seem important. The straight back, broad shoulders and passive face. Their hair was long and white and was decorated by golden pieces throughout. They wore dark armor and had the trademark ears and coloring of an Galra. The main difference was the hair, really.

“This is Prince Lotor. This is who I assume to be the current ruler of the Galra Empire,” explained Coran. “He is the son of Zarkon, mother currently unknown. Though he is the heir and since four Spicolian movements ago, the leader.”

Zarkon. Had…a son? Lance wanted to send a fruit basket to whoever the mother was. Well…that was _if_ Galra reproduced like humans did? He’d have to ask Keith. _If_ Keith knew. Or was comfortable sharing how exactly he was made and came into existence. Not everyone was.

“Hunk and I were able to look at some of the logs and well, we found that there have been a lot of military movements within the Empire, but not a lot of word on Zarkon. Nothing mentioned of the Druids.” Supplied Pidge. They were leaning against Hunk where they stood, but their eyes were focused around them, buzzing with life.

Hunk nodded. “It could be only Need To Know personnel know anything about those kind of plans, though.”

“Keith,” Lance finally joined the conversation, “when we fought with that Galra elite two planets back—he seemed more tense than usual elite, right? Angrier? Like, I got the vibe that he was more… _desperate_ , if that makes sense?”

The Red Paladin nodded. “Yeah, I get what you’re saying. The last transmission we got from the Blades briefly mentioned this. Allura, what do you think? Are they scrambling?”

The princess, who had been oddly absent from this conversation, had her back turned on them; instead she was gazing at the picture of the Prince. When she turned towards them all, she had a hint of a smile on her face. “I think this means that Prince Lotor may not be at all organized as he hoped to be. Which means, of course, that the Galra Empire is in fact, weakened.” The smile faded. “However, there is the matter of the druids. What exactly are they up to? They must be looking for Zarkon. Where is Haggar in all this? This question brings me to the conclusion that she must be looking for Zarkon. If we find her, we may be that much closer to finding Shiro. I don’t believe that Haggar would just let anyone take after Zarkon.”

There was yet another hush in the group. One question all had on their minds but no one wanted to voice it. How were they going to even find Haggar?

“I’m going to investigate more into Prince Lotor with Coran. There must be some things about him…the rest of you are free until breakfast. We are doing more training together as a team to help form Voltron faster. Yesterday was a good start for all of us.”

With that, the team began to disperse. Lance watched them all, he heard Pidge and Hunk discussing more about going further into the logs, though Pidge yawned which meant Hunk was going to convince them to sleep. Keith seemed to be itching to go do something and would probably be on the training deck until he was ready to sleep. Lance…he looked around, watching Allura and Coran talk, in a language he figured must be Altean. It didn’t found at all familiar to him.

Lance wandered off shortly after that. It seemed…to private, for some reason. He kept that in mind for later, though.

He took a nap, and wasn’t ready to go back to sleep just yet. He decided then, to walk around the castle.

His mind wandered to the calendar app he made as an approximate calculation to Earth’s date. It didn’t take much, just some fixing around with one of the tickers and some conversion; also he had to check Earth’s location on it’s orbit from the control room, then he had a virtual calendar. Hunk helped with some of the more technical stuff, but it took them only ten minutes to get it all together after Lance did most of the work.

The date in question was his older sister Vanessa’s birthday. It would—it _is_ her twenty fourth birthday and they had plans to go off to Florida Keys for the weekend, since it aligned to one of the few breaks at the Garrison. He would be at a beach in the United States with Vanessa, laughing with her as she snuck him some drinks. The two of them were always close; she was his number one support system. When he came out, she supported him. When he had his first heart break, he cried on her shoulder. She taught him the importance of skin care, of being able to keep your hands steady, how to _swim_ , even! She accepted him in any way, even when he peed on her instead of leaving the ocean like she said.

Maybe Vanessa was at the Keys right now, wondering where he was, looking up to the sky at night, drinking a margarita. Maybe her girlfriend was there. _If_ they were still together. What did the Garrison even tell their families? What if Vanessa couldn’t bring herself to the Keys because Lance wasn’t there? He wouldn’t ever want that. No. As much as he preened from attention—that was from _positive_ attention. He didn’t want to be the reason she was sad. Ever.

But his absence…his family. The ache was there, but it wasn’t always this intense. What _else_ could he be missing?

A warmth filled his chest, a familiar one, one that was always welcome as far as Lance was concerned. _If_ he was welcomed first, at least. A grin made its way onto his face as he opened the door to the Hangar. Of course he would end up here.

The Blue Lion equivalent to a purr was something he felt everywhere, and he was just as excited now as she was. Even when sad, it was hard to stay that way with Blue around. She was the place where he felt welcomed most of all in the vastness of space.

“How’s my favorite girl?” Lance called to her. Another purr and he laughed, the sound echoing in the Hangar. “I wasn’t gone too long, Blue.”

That didn’t seem to matter to Blue, whose physical body moved to touch the ground, a way to get closer and to get comfortable. This wasn’t the first time this has happened, Blue almost laying on the ground of the Hangar, that is. Whenever he went to check up on the other Lions—mostly for small maintenance as requested by Coran—they stayed in their upright positions. Then again. He was Blue’s Paladin, not theirs.

Blue seemed to sense that thought and sent a wave of positivity, she _absolutely_ agreed. Lance snickered at her possessiveness and moved to jog towards the side panels on the wall near Blue. It didn’t take him very long at all to get what he was looking for. Earlier in the day, he noticed that some of the paint around her face was getting chipped and decided to do something about it. A little touch up for his favorite Lion.

Once more, agreement filtered in their connection, as well as gratefulness and relaxation. Lance smiled at that.

He hummed as he worked, talking to Blue in his native Spanish. She understood, naturally, because of their connection and maybe Lance was a bit paranoid his conversations could be heard. He knew Spanish wasn’t translated automatically, he tried it out one day with Hunk. Hunk tried the same in his own native Hawaiian, but nothing was understood between them.

Blue’s happiness was contagious and bright. There was a myriad of different feelings in their connection. There was relaxation, happiness, some sort of anxiety that Lance was embarrassed to admit it (to anyone other than Blue) was his own as well as a lingering exhaustion that could be from either, Lance couldn’t tell.  

Later, with blue paint put away and Blue’s metal face shining, Lance was back inside the cockpit, cleaning up in there a bit. He slipped between Spanish and English as he spoke, not really noticing when he did switch. “I know with Shiro gone, everything is different. It is. I just…the universe needs us, right? And well, we need each other. To work together. We’re better, but that’s because it took a while for everyone to come together. Black brought us together! I tired, I really did, but…I hold no position of power over anyone, really. I’m the guy who cracks jokes, y’know? Not even that…”

Blue sent waves of assurances and he could feel her concern. Despite himself, Lance smiled. “Vanessa would like you, Blue. She’d assure me, just like you. She was. No. She _is_ the best sister.” They were still family. Lance sat down in the pilot seat, a wistful smile on his face. “Today…well, on Earth, it’s her birthday. We made plans, you know? There were always a lot of us together, but. Vanessa and me were always the closest, even with the seven year gap.”

He sat back, thinking. “I know being homesick is kinda lame, but, I can’t help it. But then…seeing Pidge work and fight to reunite her family, and now even to find Shiro, is inspiring. Hunk works just as hard and I know he misses his moms. Even Keith can be inspiring. He’s been thrown so much _crow_ from the Universe since Shiro disappeared the first time. Allura….Coran lost their planets and use that pain to make sure no one else has to have their home destroyed. Shiro…” Lance sighed, his fists curling in on themselves. In the reflection, he could see his own determined expression, a fire burning in his eyes. “I won’t let that happen to Earth. And I’m tired of seeing people I care about be hurt. I don’t care what I have to do, Blue, I’m going to do it.”

This oath, spoken between Paladin and Lion, is only just the beginning of a new era for Lance Mendoza.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Training begins in full throttle as Team Voltron begins to re learn how to be a team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! I have been pretty busy with work and other Personal Life events.
> 
> A BIG SHOUTOUT to [Gianna](http://usabuns.tumblr.com), my beta who is AMAZING and continues to motivate me to write! <3
> 
> I hope you all enjoy the chapter!

Breakfast the next morning was spent with Lance eyeing his half-eaten bowl of green goo while listening to Hunk and Pidge plan a way to make the decryption process, as well as translation, easier for the pair of them.

“I mean, if we’re aiming to be realistic, which we are, we can’t  _ always _ depend on Coran to help us. Not that he’s going anywhere  _ but _ , he has other things he has to do. And if we make it faster, it’d be easier for us to just  _ ca sha _ —swoop in and scadaddle on out.” Hunk said in between spoonful of goo.

Pidge hummed in agreement. They seemed well rested today, to Lance’s relief. His gaze then turned to Keith, who was wolfing down his food and whose leg just  _ won’t stop bouncing _ . It was fast paced and constant. He was across from Lance and well, it was slowly becoming more and more of a problem.  _ Especially _ when his boot grazed his sneaker. He hasn’t said much yet, mostly because he was trying to eat. Allura, who sat at the head of the table in between where Pidge and Hunk sat across from one another, was eating, as well as reading something on a tablet.

No one else seemed bothered by the bouncing. Lance put his spoon down and raised an eyebrow at Keith. “You alright there, Keith? Your leg is bouncing a mile a minute.”

The table quieted down and Keith stopped eating to glare at Lance.  _ Whoa there _ , Lance wanted to say,  _ why so angry? _ “I don’t remember asking for your input, Lance,” Keith spat back. His intense glare would have made Lance challenge him before, but not now.

Instead, he took the mature route and rolled his eyes. “Sorry to ask,  _ mullet _ . Your leg keeps hitting my foot and I’m kinda trying to eat here.” The blue paladin went for another piece of goo, not aware of the whole team watching the reaction. Allura even put her tablet down. But. Nothing escalated and Lance ate some more goo.

Or well, tried too, that is. He didn’t miss the fact that Hunk was leaning on his side, getting closer to Lance. Did the blue paladin stop the yellow paladin from reaching out and touching his forehead? No. Was he hella confused? Yes.

“Huh…Hunk, buddy?”

“Sorry, man, I was just checking for a fever.”

“Why?”

Hunk’s warmth left his head and Lance leaned away from him, a suspicious look dawning on his face. It only increased when Lance noticed Pidge smiling, like they saw something he did not. “You usually are  _ way more _ dramatic, man, especially when it comes to Keith. And energetic. You’re a morning person!”

“ _ I _ was expecting you to fake faint. Again.” Pidge added and Lance once more rolled his eyes, but this time, he waved his hand in the air. 

“Yeah, yeah, just crack your jokes guys! You won’t be laughing when you see how amazing Blue is gonna look later. Unlike  _ you  _ guys, I give my favorite lady a good cleaning and touch up every now and then. You know _ , bonding with my lion. _ ” As Lance spoke, he waved his hands in the air all around, pointing accusingly at each of the other Paladins — yes, even Allura.

Before he could continue saying how much closer he and Blue were, Hunk was holding his hand. “Dude! Your nails are painted!”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “Yeah? I painted them last night after I cleaned Blue. She got a paint job, and then I did.”

“Oh? Do humans paint their nails as a leisure activity? Or is there more to it?” Allura asked, her head titled to the side. Lance smiled and he immediately presented Allura his free hand, the dark blue space paint sparkled in the Castle’s light.

“Eh, it’s not really that deep. Some do, some don’t. It’s all a matter of preference, really,” Lance explained, Hunk released his grip and Lance returnedhis hands to his own body, an almost prideful feeling in his chest. Then, he could feel the buzzing from the Blue Lion. He wanted to laugh; she often reached far out to him just to tell him how bored she was.

Then, Coran came in, chipper as always and playing with his ginger ‘stache. Lance really wondered what he’d look like with a stache of his own. Coran seemed to enjoy his. “Morning Paladins! I have come to announce that today, you are going to be training in forming Voltron!”

Lance didn’t make eye contact, instead he looked at his half-eaten bowl of goo. There was now awkwardness in the air. The last battle they were in was the only time they could form Voltron. That was it. It was a bit frustrating because they already were on this path. But…it was hard to be angry at Allura. Mostly because she had an epic glare, but  _ also _ because she was a Paladin now; there was a sidestep to what her old role was. She was, in Lance’s opinion, doing a pretty swell job considering the circumstances that brought them here.

He suspected it was… _ those _ circumstances that made it difficult to form Voltron.

Lance stood up from his chair and swerved his way to Coran, who was giving the blue paladin an amused look. Coran barely batted an eye at him, even as Lance all but draped himself in the older man’s arms. “Coran! Coran! The gorgeous man! If he can’t get us to form Voltron, no one can!”

Laughter erupted from the table and from Coran as well. Whatever tension there was, or awkwardness was dissipated, and they all headed towards their respective hangars.

The planet they landed on was rocky and uninhabited. All that was left was wasteland, but apparently, it was once a beacon in the Gaen Galaxy. Coran had told them it was called Raxatopolis,  _ and _ was the home planet of the original Yellow Paladin—a fact that made Hunk flustered.

It was, once, a place where many species of aliens lived and were separated into several different Sectors with many different systems of government. Apparently, during the first Galran War, the governments came together to save their planet, but once they lost the Yellow Paladin—it seemed impossible. All that was left of this place was rock and dust with some water and forests.

When they began their training, there was someone who was very upset and angry. It was hard to tell who, but the feeling was overwhelming. It wasn’t easy to guess what the person was angry at, and Lance felt a bit nervous at what was about what was going to happen. Lance hoped it wasn’t too obvious, the way he felt.

“Form Voltron!” Commander Allura’s voice rang through the comms. Blue’s excitement encouraged Lance as he made the acceleration to move upwards. This time it felt...different, though because they weren’t going to become one again.

Lance reacted quickly and managed to just miss Keith in the air and they nosedived towards this planet’s rocky surface. Unlike the time on Arus, however, Lance and Blue got their wits together and were back in the air in no time.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going, Mullet!”

“ _ Your _ lon is the one in the way, it’s hard not to miss being so big!”

“Blue is a perfect Lion and the perfect size. Besides, Hunk’s is bigger!”

“That’s what she said.” With that, Pidge ended the argument as Lance absolutely  _ howled _ at that. His eyes were closed, but he heard Hunk’s laughter. He  _ did  _ miss Allura’s confused expression and Keith’s head shake, however.

“Paladins,” Allura’s voice cut in through the comms, “we need to focus.” Lance didn’t know if that was for him or the person whose anger was still present, even through all the enjoyment.

“Uh, no offense, but whoever’s feeling all that anger, can you tone it down? It’s kinda hard to focus,” Hunk said. Lance saw him on the screen—he looked unsure.

Lance could feel it too, but he reigned in his own apprehension and instead focused on sending out optimism. “We can do it this time, guys, and whoever is angry—uh, try not to focus too much on that for the moment, I guess?”

“Encouraging words as always, Lance,” Keith said, but he was smiling. “Where’d you get  _ your _ wisdom?”

Lance scoffed. “At least I tried.”

Allura sighed. “We all need to try on this.” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes and then, when they opened, said, “Alright, Paladins—Form Voltron.”

The anger faded away, and in its place, there was a feeling of excitement. There was still righteous anger in the mix, but it wasn’t as prevalent as it was before or as suffocating. Once more, Lance accelerated up towards the sky, opening up his mind as they all flew together.

From one lion to another, it was always a strange sensation, but it left Lance feeling oddly whole. His stomach was always twisted in knots before his entire being almost felt bubbly and he couldn’t quite resist from cheering.

“Score for Team Voltron! Keith—you and me, right now. When I say VOL you say—?”

There was a pause, Lance was waggling his eyebrows at Keith on the screen, who looked unsure. Then, with a feeling of uncertainty all over, “…tron?”

Lance beamed. “You did it! I told you we would work on it!” Hunk laughed at Lance’s antics and added, “Lance’s excitement is almost contagious.”

“That’s because he’s always full of energy,” Pidge supplied. “Next time we fight the Galra, our finishing move should include that cheer.”

“As much as I  _ love _ coordinated performances,” Allura cut in, “we should focus more on practicing our combat. Though…you will need to explain more of these cheers to me, Lance. For now, let’s summon the Blazing Sword and work from there. We should practice the Ice Cannon as well.”

“Right,” the other four paladins answered and Keith did the honors.

It felt like, for the first time in forever, things were going to be okay.

After what felt like days (Coran said it was only six varga) they stopped training and figured out a few things.

  1. The Ice Cannon or, what Lance referred to as: Blue Proving She Is The Best, can be held for, the longest, twenty ticks and can freeze just about anything.
  2. It’s actually really tiring to do, which Allura said she wasn’t surprised about that. It had something to do with Quintessence, but she didn’t elaborate.
  3. Still, they couldn’t seem to get to do a Voltron kick, no matter how many times everyone indulged him.
  4. Hunger was the most nagging feeling and when it was felt by three Paladins, it was even more intense.



With that last point evident, Allura decided it was time for lunch. Lance himself wasn’t feeling all that hungry, but he knew that if he didn’t eat now he was going to regret it later. As Lance left Blue, he patted her front claw and made his way towards Allura, who seemed to be waiting for them all. Which he  _ thought _ , until she locked eyes with him.

A chill went down his spine—did he mess up? Was he too obnoxious during training? Sure he knew he was being annoying after the third time he insisted on trying the kick, but he truly thought he had had it that time! Maybe she was going to berate him, but, with a look over to the other hangar door, at least they were alone. No one else emerged yet.

“Lance,” Allura signaled him out and he readied himself for death. “I wanted to say—thank you.”

Lance blinked. Now that he really looked at the princess, she wasn’t angry or annoyed. Maybe a little uncomfortable, but she was smiling. “Uh, you’re welcome?”

“Your positive energy has been a great deal of assistance for me, as well as your encouragement. I did not realize how genuine you felt your emotions until I started my training as a Paladin. No matter what the others said of your wisdom form earlier, you helped me reign in my anger.”

Lance’s eyes bugged out as he spluttered. “Th-that was  _ you _ ?!” That was what he was choosing on focusing on, otherwise he would be trying to wrap his head around the fact that the princess thanked him.

Allura looked a little embarrassed now. “I couldn’t stop looking at the landscape and the abandoned building on Raxatopolis. Giron—that was the original yellow paladin—always talked about his home planet. I was a child back then, and Voltron was around since before I was born. The Paladins…they were almost like extended family. Seeing Giron’s home like this, knowing that Altea was lost as well…. It angers me, and I truly doubt that feeling will ever go away. I don’t quite know what to do with myself when it overwhelms me.”

Lance processed this information. His body was fidgety and one hand was in his hair, combing it backwards. This was probably the most he ever spoke one-on-one with theprincess before, as well as learning all these new facts about her and her life. He didn’t know what to say, but before he could stretch out the silence to make it awkward—or the others came in—he just let his mouth do the work.

“It’s okay to feel angry, I don’t think I could ever understand that personal hurt but…I’ve been told I’m a good listener? And Hunk gives great hugs if that’s what you’re looking for. Just try not to let that anger get the best of you all the time. I mean, I’m sure you won’t since you’re the kickass princess who beat Haggar at her own game before. I don’t think we ever mentioned that recently? Like talk about badass.  _ But _ —what I’m trying to say, I guess, is that, you’re not alone here and we’re a team. You don’t have to thank me for that, don’t get me wrong, it’s cool that you did, but that’s what teams do. We support and encourage each other, right?”

Allura seemed stunned at his words and Lance was afraid he messed it up but then, she smiled at him. All seemed well. “Thank you, Lance.”

He blinked. “Didn’t I just—” But then the hangar doors opened from Red’s hangar and Keith came in, but he stopped short when he saw Allura and Lance standing there, so close and open with one another. Then Hunk and Pidge walked through theirs at the same time.

“Aw, thanks for waiting, guys!” Hunk said as he jogged up, but then he stopped as well. “Are we  _ interrupting  _ something?”

Allura blinked and then shook her head. “We were discussing, um….?” She looked to Lance, a question in her eyes that Lance caught on. He turned to the others and smiled.

“Just discussing the cheers!” Lance pointed at Keith and winked. “Great job today, Keith! You were  _ almost _ confident in doing it correctly!”

Keith seemed to blink out of whatever was going on in his head and frowned. His face was flushed with what Lance assumed to be anger as he called out, “I  _ did _ get it correctly!”

“Not with the confidence, though, buddy,” Hunk added, and Lance preened. Best bros stuck together.

Pidge laughed, and bumped hips with Keith. “Close, but not close enough.”

“Paladins, enjoy your lunch break. After you eat, we will meet up in the training deck to conduct combat training.”

Any elation that Lance felt before that was sucked away by one sentence. “What?!”

Keith looked smug as he walked by him and even turned to say, “What’s wrong Lance? Not  _ confident _ enough?”

“Ha! Told you Galra Keith was funnier!” Hunk laughed, brushing Lance’s shoulder as he walked by. Lance knew he looked outraged—he felt outraged.

“Hey, don’t say that and walk away, Mullet! I’ll show  _ you _ confidence!” With that, Lance ran after him, leaving Allura and Pidge in the dust.

“Idiots,”  said Pidge, but they were smiling as they turned to Allura. “See ya in a bit!”

Allura was left in the central hangar, a strained smile on her face and her thoughts lighter than before, but still dark.

“—and then, Vanessa punched the guy  _ right _ in the face, and when he was flat on his back in the sand, she stepped on him and told him to never show his face on that side of the beach again.” Lance finished his story, his hands still gesturing everywhere. His half-eaten bowl of goo sat on the table, spork abandoned and all. “That was the day I realized two things about my sister. One: she was  _ loca _ . Two: I was  _ definitely _ her favorite sibling.”

Coran nodded as if that made sense as Pidge snorted. “Matt once threw a rock at some kid who he thought was bullying me. In reality, the kid was asking for my help for the homework.”

“Tag yourself, I’m the rock,” Lance said, taking a bite of the goo.

“I’m Matt throwing the rock to protect Pidge,” Hunk added.

“I’m the homework that he needed help on,” Keith said, and Lance brightened at that.

“Keith! You joined in!” Lance yelped with excitement as Hunk gave the red paladin a fist bump. One that was received with confusion.

“Was I…not supposed to?” he asked, a slight tilt to his head that reminded Lance of a kitten.

Pidge shrugged. “It’s open field for memes, as always, but you never seem interested.”

It was Keith’s turn to shrug and he took another bite. Hunk sat back in his chair and sighed happily. “Look at our Keith, he’s growing up so fast.”

“One day, he’ll be putting memes into the conversation.” Pidge pretended to dab at their eyes.

Allura, meanwhile, furrowed her eyebrows. “I…I don’t think I understand Earth culture at all.”

“Don’t worry, Allura. You’ll catch onto it all soon enough,” assured Lance. He pointed at himself and then at Pidge and Hunk. “You’re with the best memers in Garrison history. If Keith can do it, you can too!”

“Trust me, Allura, it’s not as grand as they make it seem to be,” Keith added muttered.

Pidge gasped. “Et tu, Keithus?”

The table erupted in human laughter, Allura didn’t quite understand what was happening, but their joy caused her to smile as well.

Combat training with Shiro was always a touch intimidating. For Lance, it was because he looked up to the guy. With Allura? It was downright terrifying. Her bayard was a pole, not unlike the one she used to battle with before, and just like before, she knew how to make that black and silver weapon something intimidating.

First, she had them all pair up: Lance with Pidge and Hunk with Keith. It was hand to hand combat, no bayards. Allura had one of them on offense, the other on defense, and Lance started on defense. Pidge was smaller than him (by a lot, as he joked) but they were also fast. It wasn’t unlike fighting with his little siblings and cousins. Only Pidge was stronger.

“I swear, you’re a noodle, Lance,” Pidge complained, and Lance laughed, swiftly moving out of the way of another punch.

“One of my amazing talents, actually.” he retorted as he caught a punch. It did sting though and he really wondered where Pidge got all that arm strength. Extreme coding?

“What? After getting rejected from flirting and making bad jokes?”

“Uh,  _ yeah _ ? What else did you think I was talking about?”

Pidge snorted and went for a kick at Lance’s legs, which he dodged with a jump but then, the little sneak had moved their elbow just so that when Lance came down from the jump, it landed right in his gut.

He crashed down, clutching his stomach, but Pidge was fast. They were already moving to pin him, but he rolled and jumped back onto his feet, already in a defensive position. He smiled at Pidge’s frustrated look and continued to dodge.

“If you can dodge a Pidge, you can dodge a ball,” Pidge said, barely holding back a smirk. He knew what they were doing—trying to distract him, and he was almost caving in.

Back at the Garrison, during one of the times Lance and Hunk coerced Pidge into spending time with the pair of them, they found old movies in the rec room and watched some. One of which was  _ Dodgeball _ , some early 2000s movie. It was funny in a weird way; a cultural experience, if you will.

“Dodge,” Lance said, moving out of the way of a kick, “dip,” he bent his body down to avoid a high kick, “dive,” as dedicated as he was to joke, he dived onto the mat and rolled, “and dodge!” He moved in classic noodle fashion and ended his moves with a triumphed whoop.

Pidge finally barked out a laugh. It caught the attention of the others and Hunk, who called out—“It’s the five D’s to dodgeball!”

Allura frowned, her voice echoed in the room as she asked, “Five D’s to dodgeball? What kind of defensive move is that?”

Lance and Pidge shared eye contact, their smiles and eyes bright with mirth.

“I’ve never heard of it,” Keith said. He was breathing hard, Lance noticed. His arms crossed over his chest with a frown on his face—and his hair was tied back, making him look like some sports model.

Pidge took control of the conversation and explained to Allura. “It’s a reference to a classic Earth movie, Allura. Though Lance did just prove that dodge, dip, duck, dive and dodge can apply to hand to hand.”

Lance took this as a cue to jump back into the conversation. He puffed out his chest and place his hands on his hips. “If _ I _ can make it work,  _ anyone _ can.”

Allura hummed. “What is this…dodgeball you speak of?”

“It’s a game!” Hunk answered. “There’s a a few balls—usually one less than the number of total players, and made of plastic—and the object of the game is to eliminate the other team by throwing the ball across a halfway line. If you get hit with the ball, you’re out. If you catch a ball thrown, someone on your team gets back in and the person who threw it is out.”

Allura seemed to ponder on this, her left hand on her chin and that Thinking Face she often settled she often wore when learning about Earth culture. A pit settled itself in Lance’s stomach as he realized…this was  _ not  _ going to turn out good for them.

He was right, because Allura smiled and ruined his day with her next words. “It is settled. We shall play dodgeball—you four verses me.”

“W-wait! We don’t have any plastic balls!” Hunk argued,and Lance thought  ‘bless him’ because he really doesn’t want to get whooped by Allura.

The princess’s smile held an almost ferocious undertone in the way it twitched. It reminded Lance painfully of how Vanessa would smile when she was acting kind, but had ulterior motives that often would end up with Lance cleaning the dishes for a straight  _ month _ . “I shall have Coran get the closest thing we have. Which, we should have in the castle.”

“Thanks a lot,  _ Lance _ ,” Keith said. His eyebrows were furrowed and he was frowning again.

Indignant, Lance scoffed. “Don’t tell me you’re  _ scared _ , Keith.” He poked the other’s arm and ignored the glare that he got because of it. “I bet  _ you’ll  _ be the first one out.”

Keith, as Lance hoped, rose to the bait. He got a jolt of excitement whenever Keith did this, especially lately, when the other seemed to withdraw himself  more. Keith’s face, already flushed from the exertion of sparring with Hunk, seemed to flush deeper now. Some of his hair didn’t fit into the ponytail he had on, so it fell around his face and stuck out due to the moisture of sweat, no doubt, and his deep purple eyes glared at Lance. Lance had to hold back a smile.

“Oh yeah? You’re so confident with your five D’s, I bet  _ you’ll _ be the first one out.”

Lance snorted. “Wow Keith,” he stood up straight and feigned nonchalance, looking to his nails instead of Keith, “didn’t realize you were the master of wit, here. Repeating exactly what I said back.  _ Clever _ .”

Keith let out a noise of frustration. He opened his mouth, but before any words could get out, Allura’s voice rang through the room. “Paladins!”

Everyone looked over to where she stood, carrying four sphere-shaped items (she grew two more arms to comfortably carry them, something Lance merely blinked at) but he did hesitate to call them balls. They didn’t look as elastic as the ones on Earth; they were green and looked harder than elastic, and strangely shiny? He’d never seen them before, but they were spherical and Allura picked them up with ease.

(Not that that meant too much, though.)

“Allura—what are those?” asked Hunk.

Allura beamed at them all. “These are Grunkles! They’re used in Altea for sporting events! I was very happy to see that we had some stored in the back of the supply.”

Lance shared a Look with Pidge. In just one glance, they mutually apologized to each other for getting each other into this.

In the end, Allura crushed them all. It wasn’t surprising, not really. And Lance and Keith were both the first ones out in the first round. They were arguing and Allura got them. The glory of being able to shapeshift into having four arms meant that there was double the efficiency. They won against her once though, but that was because Lance started quoting Dodgeball, and then Pidge and Hunk joined in and then Allura became distracted enough that Keith got her.

She applauded them for the teamwork but then became more vicious for the next four rounds until Coran came in and put an end to the training session.

“Good work, Paladins! Lance and Pidge—good idea with the incorporating Earth techniques, perhaps there are other ways we can do so as we continue. Tomorrow, we will spar with our bayards.”

“Man, that was worse than any gym class I’ve ever been in,” Hunk complained to Lance, “and I’ve had a headache!”

Lance looked at his best friend and put a hand on his forehead. “You don’t seem to have a fever.”

Hunk waved Lance’s hand off him and sighed, shaking his head. “I know. I have a feeling it’s the Yellow Lion. Not sure why she’s feeling this way. I’m gonna head down to her hangar and check her diagnostics after we eat, make sure there’s no buggy issues. Or mechanical. She flew fine earlier, but...there was something off.”

“Want me to keep you company while you work? I know the castle spooks you out sometimes,” Lance offered, but Hunk smiled at him.

“Nah, it’s fine, man.” Hunk put a hand on Lance’s shoulder. “You seem tired today, you should get to sleep after we eat.”

Lance offered a weak smile at best. He was hoping Hunk didn’t notice, but then again, his best friend was plenty observant and knew Lance pretty well. “I will, buddy. If you do need me for anything, just ask.”

“I know I can count on ya, Lance.”

* * *

 

When Shiro came to, he gasped and sat upright immediately. His breathing was labored as he did so—but there was no physical pain. He looked as his hands, and he did his best to remember what was going on. He was fighting Zarkon— _again_ —in that liminal space within Black. He remembered being ripped apart. Then, it was nothing.

He was _really_ getting sick of losing his memory of important events.

“Oh. You're awake, then.”

Shiro’s eyes snapped to the doorway (he just realized he was on a bed, a rather fancy one if the decorations in the room were anything to go by) and there was a person, or alien there. They were average height (for a human, at least) and humanoid in shape. Their skin was a light blue color, their ears were not unlike Altean’s, though, this alien’s ears were pointed more upward. They had white hair tied together in a brain that hung over their right shoulder, curling past their chest and settled onto their hips. They wore what seemed like a black dress, with dark blue accents on it, and the skirt material was longer on one side than the other. He couldn’t see their legs because they wore pants underneath their skirts.

The most remarkable thing was their face, on the light blue skin was red markings; dots above their white eyebrows that curved under their eyes and along their nose and stopped right before their lips. Both of their eyes lacked irises; they were just all brown and blinking at him.

“Who are you?” Shiro asked, tensed up. He was ready for an attack, but saw no reason to at the moment. His gut churned, but he felt no real threat looming from the blue alien. He had his armor on, still as well as his Galra arm. 

“I was going to ask _you_ the same thing,” the alien had an accented voice, but nothing he could recognize from Earth, “you wear the Black Paladin’s armor, but I know for a fact that you are not the Black Paladin of Voltron. Nor has _he_ worn it in quite a few years.”

Shiro’s stomach twisted in knots at the alein's words.He could feel irritation coming up slowly. He was sick of people telling him he wasn’t the Black Paladin. Okay, _to be fair_ , Zarkon said something like that, but it still left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“I _am_ the Black Paladin. My name is Takashi Shirogane.” He bit back, glaring at the alien who blinked at him. Their head titled sideways, their eyes held a look of appraisal to them.

“Takashi Shirogane, huh…strange. I’ve never heard such a name before.” The alien walked closer towards the center of the room, to the bed where Shiro was. Shiro braced himself. “My name is Rixaku of Sherona, Queen of the Sheer. I am the _Blue Paladin_ of Voltron.” As if to prove her point, Rixaku shifted her skirt to reveal the blue bayard hanging off her hip. “And _you_ are not lying. I can sense that, you know.” Then Rixaku winked at him.

Shiro had been captured by a tyrannical alien regime, experimented on by said aliens, fought for his life, escaped, went back to fight them with his pseudo-brother and a bunch of other teenagers, met an alien princess and her advisor, and is the current pilot to a sentient mechanical black lion, who, in battle can form a mega robot. He thought he had seen it all.

_“What?!”_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all don't mind my mild obsession with the movie Dodgeball. When I plotted that part, I was not the most sober author in the world, but I thought it did well to keep the mood light and to explore the relationships between the paladins, despite the tensity lingering through it all.
> 
> Also, I hope you like the cliffhanger :)
> 
> Follow me on [tumblr](http://kkatekane.tumblr.com) for any questions you have or to yell about Voltron~

**Author's Note:**

> Fun facts:
> 
> I got the name Mendoza because it means "mountain" and further more, "cold", which fits the idea of the Blue Paladin and Ice, too me.
> 
> I thought of the Ice Canon mostly because I was watching Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and Paninya had a canon in her knee.


End file.
